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Looking for a milling vise
- Thread starter Erstwhile
- Start date
- Replies 25
- Views 4,206
thermite
Diamond
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2011
Pure luck got me 5 each 6" wide Gerardi Modulars before I got around to adding a Kurt as alternative to my Quad-I & the James Morton weird-gripper.
I LIKE the "modular vise" concept. A LOT! Gerardi has competition,
Kurt, of course, has more in THEIR line than just basic D6 "army-issue boot socks" as well.
Look around. See also "dual station", double vises, Orange, Chick, and such. See what makes sense for whatever it is YOU need to do.
The basic Kurt is never exactly wrong, but for lots of things it isn't quite "right", either.
Cole2534
Diamond
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2010
- Location
- Oklahoma City, OK
I don't see how anything else competes at the Kurt price range except maybe Glacern or Shars which are Kurt copies.
thermite
Diamond
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2011
That's not necessarily the determinant. Manual mill practice of a hundred-plus years might not be the environment he needs to serve.
All of those are single-station, all-manual, and do but "basic" clamping.
Twinned or even "ganged" multiple 4" might be more useful? We do not (yet) have a klew.
CNC cycle-time and throughput can be VERY much at the mercy of loading/unloading clamping time efficiency. See pallets, "tombstones", powered clamping, and a Helluva lot more.
D6 is the basic "white bread" all manual vise.
It does what it does as well as any.
But is "what it does" what he NEEDS to hit his numbers most profitably and reliably?
EPAIII
Diamond
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2003
- Location
- Beaumont, TX, USA
I wasn't going to even mention it, but I recently purchased a Shars 5". It is a good vise, but I don't know how well it compares with a Kurt. I have no experience with the Kurts, but my measurements on the Shars show the bed is around +/- 0.0003" above the table. I can work with that and, knowing it, can compensate when precision requires. The fixed jaw is flat and square to better than +/- 0.0005" and that, to me, is a more important spec. I would certainly hope the Kurts, at the price they charge, would be that good or better. I also have no experience with the Glacern's so I can not comment there.
Some additional comments on the subject of selecting a milling vise. For what I call a full sized mill (not one of the mini mills out there) most people automatically think that a 6" milling vise is the size to buy. Since my funds are limited, I did not just trust that general assessment; I did a study on just how useful different sizes would be on MY mill. I used cardboard cutouts placed on my mill's table and operated the controls. What I found out was that a 6" vise would limit the sizes of work that I could grip and the size of the work envelope that would be available once the work was mounted. I found that a 5" vise actually gave me a greater range of sizes and a larger work envelope. If you are interested in my study, you can find it here.
Milling Vise Size? -
The Home Shop Machinist & Machinist's Workshop Magazine's BBS
In the past I have used multiple vises to hold larger/longer work pieces, mostly electronic panels that had to have the various cutouts milled for the parts to be mounted on them. Since the Shars 5" vises had an attractive price, I purchased two of them to allow similar work to be done on my machine. I also purchased one of those vises with the swivel base. That gives me an additional capability to mount parts at an angle.
Oh, and the Shars do have the pull down feature, just like the Kurts. And it does work.
Overall, for less than the price of one Kurt, even a 5" Kurt, I have maximized the work envelope with one vise, added the ability to work on parts that are a foot long and even longer with two vises, and the ability to mount them at an angle. That is definitely a triple win. Win! Win! WIN!
Some additional comments on the subject of selecting a milling vise. For what I call a full sized mill (not one of the mini mills out there) most people automatically think that a 6" milling vise is the size to buy. Since my funds are limited, I did not just trust that general assessment; I did a study on just how useful different sizes would be on MY mill. I used cardboard cutouts placed on my mill's table and operated the controls. What I found out was that a 6" vise would limit the sizes of work that I could grip and the size of the work envelope that would be available once the work was mounted. I found that a 5" vise actually gave me a greater range of sizes and a larger work envelope. If you are interested in my study, you can find it here.
Milling Vise Size? -
The Home Shop Machinist & Machinist's Workshop Magazine's BBS
In the past I have used multiple vises to hold larger/longer work pieces, mostly electronic panels that had to have the various cutouts milled for the parts to be mounted on them. Since the Shars 5" vises had an attractive price, I purchased two of them to allow similar work to be done on my machine. I also purchased one of those vises with the swivel base. That gives me an additional capability to mount parts at an angle.
Oh, and the Shars do have the pull down feature, just like the Kurts. And it does work.
Overall, for less than the price of one Kurt, even a 5" Kurt, I have maximized the work envelope with one vise, added the ability to work on parts that are a foot long and even longer with two vises, and the ability to mount them at an angle. That is definitely a triple win. Win! Win! WIN!
thermite
Diamond
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2011
"Funny you should mention pull-down".
MOST of the time it is one of the main advantages to Kurt (and GOOD "clones"), making them FAR the better grippers than ancient K&T, B&S, or medium-age BirdPort OEM vises.
,,,but then again.. "there are times" when the material to be gripped is quasi-resilient.
Among the things to like about the Gerardi's is that one can DISABLE pull-down force, right at the jaw-liner, and QUICKLY. This can be NICE, when, for example milling an industrial plastic instead of less-yielding metals.
Cole2534
Diamond
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2010
- Location
- Oklahoma City, OK
Their 6" double has my attention. As much as I'd like an Orange, theeconomics aren't there for me.
Erstwhile
Aluminum
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2017
I was seriously considering the shars dx6 copy but they wanted almost 90 bucks to ship it ground, made it around 530ish including tax, the kurt dx6 was 620 shipped on amazon 90 bucks diffrence between china vs american so I went kurt.
Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
Rob F.
Diamond
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2012
- Location
- California, Central Coast
Where is that kurt vice from?
Erstwhile
Aluminum
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2017
Rob F.
Diamond
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2012
- Location
- California, Central Coast
There was a thread here not that long ago about kurt importing from china. Hope that is not the case with your vise.
Erstwhile
Aluminum
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2017
Hardplates
Stainless
- Joined
- May 8, 2019
- Location
- What once was a free country
I would be hesitant to send money to a member with 4 posts that are all in the same for sale add and can't post a pic of the actual product for sale but rather rips pics off the information superhighway.
Could be wrong but it appears highly suspect to me.
Yup, but you'll note all of our comments down there have been deleted by Mebfab.
Not so much here eh ?
Hardplates
Stainless
- Joined
- May 8, 2019
- Location
- What once was a free country
I was not aware.
My simple mind says if someone doesn't take a picture then the odds of them doing something more labor intensive like packaging and shipping are slim, not none but slim.
I may be over cautious but I still get great deals and usually don't get ripped off.
As far as vices go, I do have one 6"x9" copy of a Kurt that I paid $165 new for. I was fully prepared to take it apart and put it on the surface grinder but was surprised to find the body better then 2 tenth. The back hard jaw was wonky cause the threads weren't relieved and it was pivoting on where the threads were raised from slightly pulling out. But the master jaw was perfectly perpendicular to the body so a slight countersink was all that was needed to bring it in to damn near perfect.
My simple mind says if someone doesn't take a picture then the odds of them doing something more labor intensive like packaging and shipping are slim, not none but slim.
I may be over cautious but I still get great deals and usually don't get ripped off.
As far as vices go, I do have one 6"x9" copy of a Kurt that I paid $165 new for. I was fully prepared to take it apart and put it on the surface grinder but was surprised to find the body better then 2 tenth. The back hard jaw was wonky cause the threads weren't relieved and it was pivoting on where the threads were raised from slightly pulling out. But the master jaw was perfectly perpendicular to the body so a slight countersink was all that was needed to bring it in to damn near perfect.
gregormarwick
Diamond
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2007
- Location
- Aberdeen, UK
I could never understand why Kurt vices were so popular until Bobw pointed out to me what they cost.
So, as I've said before I don't rate Kurt vices very highly at all compared to premium European vices, but they are massively cheaper.
thermite
Diamond
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2011
Just curious, but which European vise/vice brands would the "European experienced" members consider to BE the "premium" ones?
Rob F.
Diamond
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2012
- Location
- California, Central Coast
Erstwhile
Aluminum
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2017
